Primo® Prime Lenses

Primo® Prime Lenses

Panavision’s Academy Award winning series of Primo Prime lenses combine high contrast and resolution, even field illumination, and negligible veiling glare, ghosting, and distortion. Primo lenses intercut seamlessly with other lenses in the Primo line, and are designed for use with film and digital cameras.

The standard (SL) series of Primo Prime lenses include focal lengths ranging from 10mm to 150mm with widest apertures of T1.9. Close focusing distances range from 2 feet to 5 feet 9 inches. All Primo Primes are compatible with the 1.4x Primo Extender which reduces your exposure by a full stop.

Primo Close Focus Lenses

Panavision offers a set of close focus prime lenses ranging from 14.5mm to 35mm, with widest apertures of T1.9 and close focusing distances ranging from 7 ½ inches to 11 inches. This can translate to close focus of 2 inches or less from the front of the lens. The Primo Close Focus 14.5mm is compatible with a Wide Angle Adapter to create an 11.5mm wide-angle lens.

Primo “Classic Series” Prime Lenses

The Primo Classic Series offers cinematographers the ability to select between high-contrast performance and the more classic soft focus. The colour and performance match perfectly with other Primo Prime lenses, provide close-to-macro focusing (with expanded focus scales), and accept one screw-on rear gel filter.

These Classic Series lenses offer focal lengths ranging from 21mm to 125mm. Five of these lenses (21mm, 27mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 100mm) utilize legacy glass designs with new mechanics, all with a speed of T1.9 and close focusing distances ranging from 9 ½ inches to 16 inches. Another set of these lenses (24mm, 30mm, 65mm, 85mm, and 125mm) utilise new glass and mechanics with speeds of either T1.7 or T1.8 and close focus distances ranging from 10 inches to 25 ½ inches.

All Classic Series lenses use cam drive mechanisms with expanded focus scales from 3 feet to infinity and provide continuous close-to-macro focusing. Two of the longer lenses (100mm & 125mm) feature linear bearing technology, and all of the lenses accept one screw-on rear gel filter holder.

The 24mm, 30mm, 65mm, 85mm, and 125mm focal length lenses offer a special feature called soft effect, and allows for either high contrast performance or the classic soft focus, deep field effect. Operators can select this effect manually or with a motor, and have the option of switching between these effects within a shot.

The soft effect uses a calibrated scale, which for constant object magnification gives the same result for different focal length lenses. This optical feature affects objects at or near the best focus, leaving shadow detail and blacks intact and preserving highlights with minimal blooming.